afloat

In one of the beaches in Mexico, a strange island can be seen floating nearby. A man-made place created from thousands of empty plastic bottles. This is the Spiral Island.

It was built through good old-fashioned hard work. Richie Sowa, the owner of Spiral Island, got all the empty bottles he can find and put them all in one big net. Once he had the base in place, he put plywood, bamboo, white sand and plants on top of it.

Construction started in 1998 and since then Richie never stopped. Even when Hurricane Emily came and destroyed most of it. He rebuilt it again and until now he is always adding something new. It currently measures 20 meters in diameter. It has beaches, a house, 2 ponds, a solar-powered waterfall/river, and solar panels. His source of food are the plants in the island, cooks them using a solar cooker, and his water comes from the rain. Amazing.

Here's a kid on her own island.  She can't swim and we weren't able to bring any floaties.




Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Island
http://greenupgrader.com/1821/spiral-island-constructed-from-recycled-bottles/